A father’s labour of love and the ultimate underground man cave have been selected as the first category winners in the 2017 Cuprinol Shed Of The Year competition.
The winners were revealed during the first episode of the new series of Channel 4’s Amazing Spaces Shed Of The Year and were chosen after a record-breaking 26,571 votes from the public.
Beating off tough competition in the cabin and summerhouse category, Ben Swanborough’s Mushroom Shed was brought to life after his 12-year-old daughter Elsie handed him £500 of her own savings and asked him to build her a house shaped like a mushroom.
Full of fungi paraphernalia, Swanborough built the two-storey shed with the help of friends. It includes a hidden trapdoor and a porch swing.
He said: “This year was so competitive I never thought we’d win the cabin and summerhouse category but my daughter and I are so delighted!”
Taking home the prize in the new #NotAShed category, Colin Furze from Lincolnshire built a bunker hidden four metres beneath his garden shed.
He filled it with items including a drum kit and a games console as well some of his own inventions, including an ejector bed.
Cuprinol creative director Marianne Shillingford said: “We’re really proud to sponsor Shed of the Year for the tenth year in a row.
“Year on year, we are absolutely amazed by the creativity and hard work of the sheddies around the UK, so it is fantastic to see these two being rewarded for their amazing sheds.”
Category winners are being announced during each episode of the four-part series.
The winners will go up against six other category winners in a final battle, with the overall winner being crowned in September.
